George Seawright

78
George Seawright bigraphy, stories - British politician

George Seawright : biography

– 1987

George Seawright (c. 1951 – 3 December 1987) was a controversial unionist politician in Northern Ireland who was assassinated by the Irish People’s Liberation Organisation (IPLO) during the Troubles. He was also a member of the loyalist paramiltary group the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF).

DUP withdraw support

Following these high-profile political mistakes, the DUP withdrew the party whip from Seawright, although he managed to hold his support base and was returned to the Council in 1985 as an independent under the label ‘Protestant Unionist’. He was shunned by the DUP and UUP city councillors; indeed the only people who would talk to him were Sinn Féin city councillors.Holland & McDonald, INLA Deadly Divisions, p. 189 Nonetheless he did not sever his ties with all DUP members and in summer 1985 joined Ivan Foster, Jim Wells and George Graham in a failed attempt to force a banned loyalist march through the mainly nationalist town of Castlewellan.Bruce, God Save Ulster, p. 139 Seawright did however split from the Free Presbyterian Church and instead worshipped at the Shankill Road’s Church of God.Bruce, God Save Ulster, p. 145

As a candidate for the Westminster elections, Seawright twice contested the North Belfast constituency. In 1983, as a DUP candidate, Seawright finished second with 8,260 votes behind Cecil Walker of the Ulster Unionists, whilst in 1987 he finished third behind Walker and Alban Maginness (Social Democratic and Labour Party) with 5,671 votes as a Protestant Unionist candidate (although the DUP did not contest the seat due to an electoral pact among Unionist candidates at the time). Seawright took the name Ulster Protestant League, which had been used by an earlier loyalist group, for his largely working-class Evangelical group of supporters even though the name was not used for electoral purposes.Steve Bruce, ‘Ulster Loyalism and Religiosity’, Political Studies, Volume 35, Issue 4, December 1987, pp. 643–648

Move to loyalism

In the aftermath of the Anglo-Irish Agreement and his removal from the DUP Seawright moved publicly closer to loyalism. He stated that he felt it would be impossible to resist the Agreement solely through non-violence and further argued that it would be inevitable for loyalists to break from Ian Paisley and Jim Molyneaux as the two leaders of unionism would never publicly endorse a violent response.Feargal Cochrane, Unionist politics and the politics of Unionism since the Anglo-Irish Agreement, Cork University Press, 2001, pp. 136-137 For Seawright conflict was inevitable, especially with the growing electoral success of Sinn Féin which he argued would harden both communities and bring about civil war.Tom F. Baldy, Battle for Ulster: A Study of Internal Security, DIANE Publishing, 1997, p. 90

Seawright further enhanced his notoriety when, on 20 November 1985, he took a leading role in the protests against the visit of the then Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Tom King to Belfast City Hall, where King was denounced for his part in the Anglo-Irish Agreement and attacked physically by Seawright and other protestors. For his part in the incident Seawright was sentenced to nine months imprisonment in Magilligan prison in October 1986. As a result of this jailing, Seawright was forced to vacate his seat on Belfast City Council. The Workers’ Party blocked the co-option of his wife Liz, who nevertheless beat the Workers’ Party by 93% to 7% in the subsequent by-election (in which she also stood under the label of Protestant Unionist). She held the seat in 1989, but lost it in the 1993 local government election.

He courted further controversy in September 1986 when he publicly called for revenge after the killing of John Bingham, a leading UVF member and friend of Seawright, by the IRA.Jim Cusack & Henry McDonald, UVF, Dublin: Poolbeg, 1997, p. 246 Raymond Mooney, a Catholic civilian, was killed soon after Seawright made the statement.David McKittrick et al, Lost Lives, Mainstream Publishing, 2008, p. 1101 He made similar remarks the following year when William "Frenchie" Marchant was killed by republicans, stating that he had "no hesitation in calling for revenge and retribution".David McKittrick et al, Lost Lives, p. 1076 Seawright’s North Belfast campaign in 1987 also played up his loyalist image with Seawright dubbing himself "the man who will not be silenced". He further promised to follow an abstentionist policy if he were elected in protest at the Anglo-Irish Agreement.Cochrane, Unionist politics and the politics of Unionism since the Anglo-Irish Agreement, p. 175